Soft skills play an invaluable role in today’s work environment. Traits like teamwork, adaptability, and empathy are the main reasons that teams can stick together, collaborate, and achieve their best despite all the turmoil going on in the world right now.
One of LinkedIn’s latest studies has identified soft skills as one of the major trends that will transform future workplaces. Here are the top five soft skills to nurture in your organization:
Teamwork
Teamwork enables employees to collaborate with their peers effectively without micromanaging projects or procrastinating to the point where tasks fall through. This helps your employees brainstorm exceptional ideas, make quicker decisions, solve critical problems, and reach organizational goals.
Leadership
Employees belonging to senior positions should of course possess strong leadership skills to mentor their team members, understand their needs, offer learning opportunities, and bring out the best in everyone. However, leadership should also be fostered amongst team members as well because this encourages employee growth and loyalty.
Empathy
Increasingly, empathy and emotional intelligence are becoming vital in today’s globalized business environment. They form the foundation for better workplace relationships and successful teamwork. When employees are empathetic, they respect their fellow workers, practice compassionate listening, understand their feelings and emotions, and communicate effectively.
Adaptability
If there’s one thing this year taught us, it’s that the need for adaptability can be sudden and overwhelming. Adaptability enables employees to approach challenges with an open mind, learn new skills, and adjust to changing conditions. This is a skill that impacts the everyday work environment in small but meaningful ways, so it’s easy to overlook until something drastic happens. Then, adaptability becomes a necessity instead of an option.
Positivity
Not to sound cheesy, but it’s important that teams strive to see the good in all things and people. Positivity at the workplace helps prevent toxic habits like gossip, rumors, and backstabbing. It motivates employees to communicate with peers, recognize each other’s efforts, and trust their leaders and managers. That said, positivity can be difficult to maintain, especially in times like these. It falls on your people management strategies to give employees a reason to be happy about their work even when times are tough.
As an organization, it’s vital to prioritize soft skills just as much as hard skills to help your employees grow professionally as well as personally. Additionally, soft skills enable your team members to get along with their peers, building better workplace relationships and keeping negativity at bay. Head over to our HR Knowledge Hive to learn more about the benefits of soft skills, tips for interviewing candidates for soft skills, and how to nurture them among your existing workforce.
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